Environmentalists call on Japan to close domestic ivory market

Environmentalists call on Japan to close domestic ivory market

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October 3, 2016

JOHANNESBURG –The Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) is calling on Japan to close its domestic ivory market because it contributes to illegal trade and the poaching of Africa’s elephants. EIA’s appeal comes on the heels of a resolution adopted by countries yesterday at the Convention for International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Caught Flora and Fauna (CITES) 17th Conference of the Parties (CoP 17) recommending closure of domestic ivory markets globally on an urgent basis.

The resolution which was agreed by consensus, “recommends that all Parties and non-Parties in whose jurisdiction there is a legal domestic market for ivory that is contributing to poaching or illegal trade, take all necessary legislative, regulatory and enforcement measures to close their domestic markets for commercial trade in raw and worked ivory as a matter of urgency.”

EIA president, Allan Thornton said, “EIA investigations over the past sixteen months confirm that Japan’s tusk registration scheme allows poached tusks to be legalized onto the Japanese market. It is time to end the tusk registration scheme and to close domestic ivory trade to reduce the demand that fuels ivory poaching.”

“The resolution is crystal clear. Markets that contribute to poaching or illegal trade should be urgently closed. All legal ivory markets encourage poaching and ivory trafficking, but there is no doubt that Japan in particular is a large market with a serious problem with illegal ivory trade,” Thornton said.

On August 17th, the world’s governments will convene in Geneva, Switzerland, for the 18th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES CoP18). At CoP18, governments (or “Parties” in CITES parlance) will address the most pressing trade-related conservation issues facing wildlife and plant species around the world. EIA will be at CoP18 working to ensure that protections for threatened species like elephants, rhinos, and rosewood will be strengthened and to hold to account those Parties that have failed to meet CITES requirements.

In 2018 the Environmental Investigation Agency continued to confront the greatest environmental threats facing the world today. The EIA team pursued, documented and exposed the activities of syndicates that threaten endangered species, damage the climate and ozone layer, and drive the trade in timber stolen from the world’s most important remaining forests.